Carnival Paradise Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Had a great time

Sail Date: July 26, 2014

Reviewed:2 years ago

Traveled As: Family (young children)

Room Type: Oceanview

Cabin: GUAR

This was our 9 yo granddaughter's first cruise and she had a blast. We picked this cruise because it wasn't too long and went to a couple of places my wife & I haven't been as of yet, as well as noted spots for good swimming/snorkeling. Although they had a kid's Camp Carnival, my granddaughter only went once. It wasn't really due to staff or program issue as it was that she's a small, petite 9 yo, and in her group ( 9-11) there were mostly older, bigger boys and she was getting jostled and bumped around during the activities. We ended up spending more time together on the water slide and pool (I have the sunburn to prove it..LOL).

The rooms were always cleaned when we were out of the cabin (we only saw our room staff twice, unlike the other cruises). We were always greeted by friendly, smiling staff and always responded to any of our requests. The only issues I had with this cruise was the lunch buffet. The choices were ho-hum at best and tended to be overly salty. On the other hand, the diner was MUCH better and our waiter staff...Homer & crew made the experience even better. They were always very attentive, greeted us by name and made sure our granddaughter was spoiled.

Compared to the the last cruise that took us to Jamaica, we were able to spend a more relaxing time, not having to always check our watches to make sure we were back to the ship on time. We had plenty of time to pretty much to do what we planned and then some...what a big difference!!!!!

The debarkation process didn't go so well because ship's security and Immigration agents couldn't find several foreign passengers and we delayed a good hour + (this was NOT Carnival's fault). I chose the option of having our baggage picked up early because my wife wasn't able to lug around a heavy suitcase and same for the granddaughter. That caused us to wait for what seemed like an excruciating "forever"...which was actually only a couple of hours. We won't do that again!!!!

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